Making Plans


goals, music, and practicality

I am making plans.
I have no idea how practical the goal is. I have a feeling that the plans are a rationalization of a decidedly impractical goal, a thin veneer of polished mahogany glued to cardboard box. I mean I'm 43. How practical can the goal of becoming professional singer-songwriter be?

Nevertheless, I am making plans.

My goal is to skip the local scene and jump straight to regional touring.

The first hurdle to cross in this steeple chase was deciding if I could still write a song. It has been years, and my last song was not something I would like to perform. So I sat down with a guitar and thought. I drove and I thought. I walked and I thought. I looked for inspiration and I let my mind wander on the page.

I came up with a story song about a farmer who has moved to California at the end of the Gold Rush when gold mining was taken over by companies that could raise enough cash to divert and dam streams in an effort to use the pressure of that water to blast away entire hillsides. I discovered conflict in the interaction between valley farmers, who suffered through terrible flooding as a result of the miners efforts. The result was a song called "Sixty Eight Miles".

[I'll post it to my download site as soon as I have a decent recording of it.]

So OK, I can still write a song. Second hurdle is the creation of a professionally produced CD. For this I have to make a basic decision: include the use of copyrighted covers or stick with original material? I decided to stick with original material with one exception. I'll include a song that exists in the public domain, a folk song or an adaptation of a classical piece.

Those of you more plugged into current popular culture and the trend consumers are showing to prefer downloads to CDs are asking me in your minds right now why I need to create a CD. A CD is a collection songs chosen by the artist rather than the listener on a medium the delivery for which the consumer will have to wait. Downloads happen more or less right now and the listener can pick which ones they want.

I'm asking that too, obviously. The answer I think relies less on my prospective listeners than it does on the gate keepers between me and my listeners. People who host house concerts, run clubs, coffeehouses, and theaters who have never heard of me will want tangible evidence of not just my talent but my commitment to the business. A CD fills that purpose perfectly even the entire contents can be downloaded from any one (or all!) of dozens of services attempting to compete with iTunes.

So here's the song list for my first CD:
"Winter's Night"
"China Doll"
"Conscience"
"Say Goodbye"
"Bridge"
"Careless"
"I Had No Choice"
"I Remember"
"Leave a Penny"
"Wounded Knee"
"Sixty Eight Miles"
"The Water is Wide"*

They're in no particular order, I'll determine that later. The asterisk denotes the one public domain song I'll record.
Some of these songs are already up in demo form on my upload site. Have a listen .

The CD is a huge hurdle with lots of preparation and steps to take before it's finished. But after that I'll need to create a business based on my musical ability and its products. This is where I'll have the most trouble. I'm a crappy businessman, so I'll likely need help in this area. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Best,
Daniel

Posted: Wed - April 2, 2008 at 11:35 AM          

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